Cholesterol is a lipid that can be both manufactured by the body and ingested in food. It should be noted that dietary cholesterol is not the same as cholesterol found in the blood (serum cholesterol) and that dietary cholesterol often has little impact on the levels of cholesterol in the blood.

Are high levels of cholesterol in the blood harmful? In short, yes, a number of studies have found a correlation between coronary heart disease and high levels of serum cholesterol.

The graph below shows the combined results of three Finnish studies from 1972, 1977 and 1982 for men aged between 30 and 59.

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A British study has found that stressed workers are significantly more likely to develop coronary heart disease.

The research, conducted at the University College London (UCL), was published in January in the European Heart Journal. The study suggested that stressed workers may be up to 68 percent more likely to suffer from coronary heart disease than other workers. The research was conducted using data from the Whitehall II study which began in 1985 and involves more than 10,000 workers from London, England.

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People with higher blood sugar levels , particularly women, run a greater risk of developing heart disease according to a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The study, which included over 4,000 men and women from the Framingham Heart Study, found that women with high fasting glucose levels are much more likely to develop heart disease, even if they do not have diabetes. In contrast, fasting glucose levels did not influence heart disease risk in non-diabetic men.

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A recent American study published in the Journal of Circulation Research has suggested that very fine particles emitted from vehicles triggers an inflammatory response in the arteries which in turn leads to atherosclerosis and an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The five week study involved exposing mice to ultra-fine particles sourced from a Los Angeles freeway. These mice experienced a 55% increase in the formation of atherosclerotic lesions when compared to mice breathing filtered air free of the particles.

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Women who use calcium supplements may be at an increased risk of heart problems in later life according to a recent New Zealand study published in the British Medical Journal this month.

Researchers from the Department of Medicine at the University of Auckland followed 1471 healthy post-menopausal women, all over the age of 55, for a period of five years. Half the group took a calcium supplement which contained 1 gram of calcium while the other half received a placebo.

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